Thursday, April 11, 2013

Summer blockbuster season is nearly hear, and although the season promises many great films, "The Great Gatsby," "Monsters University" and "Elysium" are three must-sees. Whether you love romance, drama, comedy, or sci-fi, these movies are anticipated by fans and critics as being some of summer's best:

'The Great Gatsby,' May

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel is brought to life by director, writer and producer Baz Luhrmann.

"The Great Gatsby" exposes the power of dreams. The film takes place in the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway is a Midwesterner looking to start his career after attending Yale and serving in the war. He rents a home in a city west of New York City that neighbors Jay Gatsby's mansion. He becomes extremely interested in the mysterious Gatsby, who's known for his lavish parties. Nick discovers his cousin Daisy had a relationship with Gatsby. Gatsby is madly in love with Daisy. After Nick arranges an opportunity for them to meet the story catapults into a dramatic web of affair.

'Monsters University,' June

"Monsters University" takes fans back to when Mike and Sully’s relationship began: college. Mike and Sully meet as roommates, both pursuing a degree in scaring. Scaring is a prestigious degree that ranks near humans engineering and medical degrees. The vastly different personalities of each character, mixed with their passion for scaring, leads the pair down a competitive and funny course of rivalry.

John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi and Helen Mirren star in the animated film produced by John Lasseter and Kori Rae. Both producers have extensive experience in animation. Lasseter is known for his work in "Cars" and the "Toy Story" movies. Rae worked on "Up" and "The Incredibles." The animation is pulled together with a sound department headed by Pascal Garneau, who worked on "Transformers," "Up," and "Toy Story."

'Elysium,' August

Not much has officially been released about the highly anticipated follow up to “District 9.” But based on the IGN panel reaction from the 2012 Comic-Con, the movie takes place in 2159. Earth has become an impoverished, overpopulated and disease-ridden planet. Elysium is the luxury space station where rich people live. Equipped technology made to essentially cure cancer and filled with virtual greenery that makes the exclusive colony appear to be a paradise. The common people of earth attempt to break into the safe haven. Jodi Foster's character stops at nothing to keep the people of earth out of the high-class space station.

Matt Damon plays an ex-convict, and is put in a position where he must do dirty work for criminals to save his life. His mission is to break into Elysium and steal data from one of the wealthy elite that can put an end to the growing gap between humanity’s poor and rich.

Neil Blomkamp wrote the screenplay and directed the sci-fi film. A graduate of Vancouver Film School for Animation and Visual Effects, the director-writer has a strong science-fiction background. Blomkamp has worked on "District 9" and on the TV series "Stargate SG 1" and "Smallville."